Nixon Peabody Power Base Shifts to Boston with Election of New MP

Following a series of partner departures over the last year that weakened its New York office, Nixon Peabody today announced a change in management that puts control of the firm in the hands of its Boston managing partner.

Andrew Glincher, who has managed the law firm's Boston office since 2004, will succeed New York partner Richard Langan, Jr., as chief executive officer and managing partner in early 2011. In the past year, some of Nixon Peabody's biggest rainmakers departed for firms, including DLA Piper and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.

"The success of Nixon Peabody has always rested on the quality of our people, our collegial culture, and our absolute commitment to extraordinary client service," Glincher said in a statement. "I am confident in our ability to meet and exceed the legal challenges facing our clients now and in the future." (Glincher was not available for further comment, according to a firm spokeswoman.)

Nixon Peabody said its policy committee chose Glincher to manage the firm after months of reviewing various partner candidates. Kevin Fitzgerald, the Manchester, N.H.,-based chair of the firm's policy committee, in a statement called Glincher a "trusted leader" who "will ensure our continued growth and success."

The change in management signals a broader power shift inside the firm from New York to Boston, the home of predecessor firm Peabody & Brown before the 1999 merger with Rochester's Nixon, Hargrave, Devans & Doyle.

As established partners have departed the New York office, Nixon Peabody has been naming Boston-based partners to take over key practice areas, including litigation and global finance. Nixon Peabody's Boston office has 143 lawyers, compared to the 77 remaining in Manhattan and 86 in Rochester, according to The National Law Journal's annual NLJ 250 survey of law firm size, published in November.

Allison McClain, a spokeswoman for Nixon Peabody, called the leadership change "part of a regular process that occurs every three years." As for the departures, she said in an e-mail, "The legal market is fluid; we've seen lawyers come and go in the past, and we're likely to continue to see movement in both directions. Movement among firms is becoming the nature of the profession."

But over the last year, the firm has been rocked by a series of defections by some of its biggest rainmakers, particularly in Manhattan, who had supported the international focus.